The present invention relates to a strobe control apparatus for controlling a strobe used in a camera.
Conventionally, it is necessary to check whether the charged voltage of a main capacitor in a strobe circuit reaches a predetermined level, and in accordance to which flash permission or an indication thereof is given.
In case the above predetermined level is the only voltage level, strobe flashing cannot be accurately controlled according to the present voltage charge.
On the other hand, in case a plurality of voltage levels are available, it can become necessary to employ as arrangements such as to divide the charged voltage, to A/D convert and to check whether the charged voltage has reached each level.
Thereby, the circuit size becomes large and the circuit becomes complicated and large-sized, resulting in higher costs.
Furthermore, as the amount of current which flows in a camera has recently increased since the performance of the batteries used therein has improved, there is a tendency for the charging time of a strobe to become shortened. Thus, the strobes can be flashed frequently and thereby the amount of heat generated due to charging also increases.
If the circuit is heated with the heat generated from charging the paraffin which secured the winding of a boosting transformer may melt and thereby the circuit may be damaged. In addition, the winding itself or the transistors thereof may also be damaged by heat.
To prevent the circuits from being heated, large capacity transistors or large capacity transformers can be effectively used. However, in small cameras such as lens shutter type cameras, the circuits should be compactly structured. Thus, it is preferable not to use large capacity transistors and transformers.